Texas Business reports: DALLAS—Lockheed Martin won a $353.2 million U.S. Army follow-on contract for the seventh production lot of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Unitary rockets.

Designed for destroying targets at ranges up to 70 kilometers, GMLRS is an all-weather, rapidly deployable, long-range rocket that delivers precision strike beyond the range of most conventional weapons. GMLRS Unitary rockets have achieved a combat-reliability rate of 98 percent.

Rockets from this production lot will be supplied to the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps, and to the armies of Italy, Jordan and Singapore. This contract represents Italy's first purchase of GMLRS rockets. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in December 2013, with work performed at the company's facilities in Camden, Ark., and Dallas.

“GMLRS continues to be the long-range precision-fire weapon of choice when commanders need to decisively and accurately attack high value targets while minimizing the risk of collateral damage,” said Lt. Col. T.J. Wright in a prepared statement. Wright is the U.S. Army's product manager for Precision Guided Missiles and Rockets. “This contract award will result in the delivery of a critical capability to our warfighters who rely on GMLRS to deliver all-weather, 24/7 responsive fires when they need it most.”

“U.S. and allied forces have fired more than 2,200 of these precision munitions in support of military operations,” said Scott Arnold, vice president of precision fires in Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control business. “Our warfighters depend on GMLRS daily, and that intensifies our commitment to provide the most reliable, most effective weapon system possible.”

Each GMLRS rocket is packaged in an MLRS launch pod and is fired from the Lockheed Martin HIMARS or M270 family of launchers. The longer-range GMLRS+ rocket, with a reach of more than 120 kilometers, is being developed and tested by Lockheed Martin using company funds.